Bride to Be

32: A Single Rose

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO: A SINGLE ROSE

August 10th, 2020 - 2 weeks later

Gemma stepped into the cool air conditioning of her New York apartment, exhausted yet happy as walking through the door marked the end of her first day as a film agent at Silvercup Studios. Although her first day was slightly overwhelming, due to all the information she was expected to soak in at once, Gemma was excited to finally be in the first steps of her career. Her coworkers were great, and her giant office space was much more than she would have ever expected. She loved it already, despite her only being there for one day. Though everything from her summer stay in Michigan was still fresh, Gemma felt her worries slip away as she worked from nine o'clock in the morning to five o'clock in the afternoon. She pushed the thoughts of the wedding, which would have passed by now, and the fact that Rowan was probably married, out of her mind.  Everything from this summer was behind her. She was only focused on the now, and what was to come with her future in New York.

Marcie was not home yet when Gemma walked in. The apartment was dark and quiet, though she expected her best friend to be home soon from her first day as a fashion consultant at Velvet Caviar. And to no surprise, Gemma was right. Just as she was taking off her business casual clothes, which consisted of a plain purple button up shirt and black dress pants, Gemma heard the front door open.

Just as Gemma was finished changing into an oversized tee shirt with a quote from American Horror Story on it, as well as a pair of black workout shorts, Marcie walked into Gemma's bedroom. She had some papers in hand, though Gemma could not tell what Marcie was holding as she sat down at Gems' cedar wood desk. Gemma noticed some dust fly off her desk as soon as Marcie sat down, that she had not noticed in her two weeks of being home. The desk clearly had not been touched since Gemma's return, or cleaned for that matter, given she was in Michigan for much longer than she intended on staying. Gemma picked up some cleaning wipes from her dresser, which was not covered in dust, and began walking towards where Marcie was sitting so she could clear her cedar wood desk of the dust that had been piling since the middle of May.

"Mail," Marcie grinned, throwing an envelope at Gemma. She could have just handed it to her, given the two were standing two feet apart as Gemma cleaned off the dust.

"It's probably just a bank statement - " Gemma rolled her eyes. As soon as she and Marcie arrived back in New York, their mailbox was nearly exploding with bank statements, despite Gemma's request for paperless mail. Though as soon as she saw the return address written on the envelope, her eyes widened.

It was from her mother.

Marcie spun around in Gemma's desk chair while sifting through the rest of the mail, which to no surprise, consisted of bank statements.

"My mom could have texted me," Gemma was confused as she opened the envelope. She had spoke to her mother once since her return, and thankfully, Gayle did not bring up what had happened between them.

"What did she send?" Marcie asked, once she was finished going through the rest of the mail. She was interested in what Gayle could have possibly sent.

Gemma was surprised to pull a card out of the envelope. The front of the card read I'm sorry.

"An apology card?" Marcie stifled a laugh, knowing this was not funny, but finding it bizarre to the point where she felt laughing was necessary.

Gemma did not respond but instead, opened the card. The entire left side was written on, while on the right displayed a generic quote written by the card company. Gemma felt her eyes water as she read what her mother had written.